Kagutsuchi Hierarchical School
by Iori-chan-sempai
Summary: Non-linear collection of oneshots from BLAZBLUE, THE TERRIBLE HIGH SCHOOL AU. Mainly focused on Jin and Ragna, so expect lots of horrible yaoi gags. Various characters and pairings.. eventually. Coming up in Ch 4: Into the heart of Sector Seven.
1. Something Wicked

When Noel Vermillion arrived to the Student Government office that morning, she was a bit taken aback. She could hear Jin Kisaragi, their vice president, laughing rather loudly in their office-- it certainly sounded far sinister than normal laughter (although, she supposed, Jin did do things rather sinisterly), but more than that, _Jin _was _laughing_. Today was not a regular day at all.

Noel bit her lip and knocked on the door briefly before opening it.

Jin took in a deep breath as he looked at her, and _smiled_. Dear God, Noel thought, something is seriously wrong.

"Historian Vermillion!" Jin said, and he sounded almost delighted that she was there.

She gulped, stiffening, "Y-Yes, Vice President!"

"I want this day to be immortalized, as the day that Ragna the Bloodedge transferred to our school!" It was an odd request, but Noel had heard things about this last week (supposedly everyone was on the edge due to the inevitable battle between Jin and Ragna).

She wasn't exactly sure what he was due to the numerous description floating around. She'd heard that he was a high school delinquent who had a long rivalry with Jin since middle school, or an assassin hired by the remnants of Ikaruga High school, or even an undercover police officer determined to uncover the VP's alleged illegal activities. All the rumors did put him at odds with their vice president for some reason, and the way that Jin was acting seemed to support that they did know each other somehow. Jin was looking at her with a raised eyebrow, she stood up straight, "I'll get right on it!"

Oh man, Jin was even scarier like this! She opened their laptop and began to type up a brief news article. Her eyes strayed to the hits for their school newsletter and sighed. Only 5000 for this month... the school's tabloid newspaper was the one that got all the attention! It was fine, she supposed, trying to flush that indignity down (she had needed their help every now and then, and they had been very cooperative for an exclusive!), since their newsletter was far more factual, and the students preferred gossip.

"Nii-sama, you shouldn't get in another fight in the middle of school, alright?"

"P-president, when did you get here!" Noel asked, startled to hear Tsubaki's voice when she swore the door didn't even open.

Tsubaki smiled at her, "I've been in my office," said office was an adjacent closet sized room with a desk, window, computer, etc. "But Nii-sama, you heard what I said, didn't you?"

Jin rolled his eyes, "President, I'm not going to get into any fights during school hours. Fear not."

Tsubaki seemed pleased at that answer, and told him, "The transfer student is set to arrive at roughly 6:45 for an early meeting with the vice principal and his official class assignment." Most school-affiliated clubs met at 6:00 to 6:30 in the morning until class began at 7:20; Jin was out the door before Tsubaki even finished her sentence.

Noel looked at the empty spot where Jin had been standing and then up at their School President. "Erm, wasn't that a little counter-productive?"

She smiled, and said, "If they do end up fighting, they'll have at least half an hour until class starts. That should be enough to curb them during the school day. Besides, all the students are rather concerned about the situation, so it might be good to get everything out in the open to take the students' minds off of it."

"Eh? Wouldn't it be better to have it at the end of the school day then?" she asked, "When all the students are around?"

Tsubaki shook her head, "Well, we don't want to interfere with the afternoon clubs. And I have to admit that I sort of, made an announcement," she reached in her bag and searched for a moment, coming out with a newspaper, the tabloid, Sector Seven. The front page story was: VP vs The Bloodedge?! Showdown, tomorrow in front of the school at 6:45 am. You snooze, you lose!!

Her smile was a bit mischievous, and at times like this, Noel thought she was more of a bizarre puppet master than president.

Noel looked at her watch. It was 6:35! "Shoot! I didn't bring my camera today. The vice president will kill me..."

"Just go ask Sector Seven for a camera," Tsubaki told her. Oh, if only it was so easy.

"They're sure to be using them all on this story, though," Noel frowned. She greatly disliked going down to Sector Seven's office to ask them for stuff.

"I was planning to use this as a trump card for later, but you can just remind them who it was that gave them their tip." Yep, Tsubaki was definitely an evil mastermind.

Noel faltered and nodded, "A-Alright."

On her way downstairs, she heard a familiar voice, "Nee-san, who do you think is going to win?" It belonged to her junior in age, but senior in class (which was a bit embarrassing), Carl Clover. He said that he skipped a couple grades so that he could be in the same class as his sister, who needed him. It was a very sweet story, but it didn't do much for Noel's self-confidence. "You're right, Nee-san. You should probaby shouldn't tell anyone that!" he laughed and caught sight of her. "Oh, Noel. Where are you going?"

"Sector Seven's office," she said with a small sigh.

"Me too!"

"Eh?! You, work for them?"

Carl shook his head, "No. My sister does." Noel glanced at the blonde girl behind him who then nodded at her-- which startled her because Ada almost never moved. "She says that she sees you around there a lot. More student government stuff?"

"Uh, yeah. I need to borrow a camera actually..."

Ada stopped and reached into her jacket pocket. Carl smiled, "Nee-san says that you can use hers. She already got all the pictures off of it, just make sure you return it," as he spoke, his sister pulled out a digital camera and held it out for Noel to take.

Noel was still a little in shock as she took the camera from her--woah, she can move excessively, and even _smile?!_ Noel laughed nervously, "Thank you very much, you two. I wasn't sure how hard it would be to get one," especially with Kokonoe there. Dr. Litchi was supposedly one of her old students; something they both had in common was how they loved to pick on her. Noel checked her watch again; it was already 6:42, "Oh noo! I gotta get going. I owe you one, Ada!"

She took off running towards the front of the school. Students were lined up along the sides of the main path to school, and Jin was standing in the center of the path with his arms folded (Noel snapped a picture, she had to admit he looked rather impressive like that).

Suddenly, the students, who had been murmuring among themselves grew hushed.

A young man in a gakuran, with spiky white hair and discolored eyes approached. He seemed to be somewhat confused at what everyone was doing there (Noel could tell from his expression at 15x zoom-- she snapped a picture).

Jin began to laugh loudly, again. If anyone had been talking, now they were quiet. It was dead silent when Jin shouted, "Is that you, Rag-na-the-Blood-edge?!"

Ragna froze, looked at him with scorn and said, "Tch. Jin."

"It's been such a long time," Jin said, still chuckling to himself as Ragna began to walk towards him.

"God damn it, Jin. What the hell are you doing here? I hoped that I'd never have to see you again," Ragna's scowl grew larger the closer he got to the vice president.

Jin gave him a weird look (if it had been anyone else Noel would have said it was adoration; either way, she snapped a picture) and said, his voice higher and more light than it had ever been, "Aww, don't be so mean~ Don't lie and say that you didn't miss me..."

"I didn't!" Ragna said, and glared, to which Jin responded with a smile (it was rather malevolent, but definitely photo-worthy!).

"Well, I missed you very much, Nii-san," Jin said, sending the crowd of students into a confused buzz as people threw around new theories-- were they childhood friends? or rivals? they can't be real brothers, I mean... right? Jin then reached forward with both arms and started to-- hug? Ragna. Noel thought it would be a great picture, but pushed the button too late, and ended up with a shot of Jin getting slugged in the face.

"I have an appointment, Jin, and you're making me late," Ragna growled (when Noel looked at the photo again, she noticed that his face was kind of pink), stepping over Jin to get to the school doors.

People moved out of his way without a second thought, but other than that, no one moved. Once Ragna had entered the school building, the crowd went wild. Several students ran to their vice president. "Jin, what happened out there?" asked a boy Noel recognized to be one of Sector Seven's journalists, a few of whom seemed to have gotten over the shock of what happened and gone chasing after Ragna for an interview.

A number of girls who rather fancied the vice president fought over his pair of glasses until one emerged victorious-- wait, was that _Makoto_-- and returned them to him, asking, "Vice president, are you okay?" Jin just laughed, even as his nose started to drip blood.

The next day, the papers read: _VP Jin Kisaragi, 17, addressing rumors about his relationship with the muchly talked about transfer student says, "The two of us are... bonded in ways that [Ragna] wishes he could deny. Even though he tries to hide it, it's obvious that... I'm someone special to him."_


	2. A Man of Many Talents

Ragna dreads the performance more than he has dreaded anything in his life.

That morning, he had arrived at school to hear everyone bustling about tonight's talent show. Tao had leaned over her desk and said, "Nyaa, I can't wait~ Are you coming, Ragna? I hear there's going to be a whole free buffet there. Aaah!" She was already drooling.

Ragna snorted, if anything he hoped the anticipation would make her want to not eat anything (that is, his lunch) before the event. She liked to fast before a big free meal. Ragna didn't blame her, and liked being able to eat his own lunch-- although, by now he was already making double to account for Tao's habits.

"Nahh, I don't think I'm going to go," he said, as he overheard a number of girls giggling about some of the line-up. Behind him, he heard his classmate Carl (Ragna wasn't sure how old he was, but he seemed to be a genius as he was definitely middle school age) talking to his sister.

"Nee-san, is true that he's going to take part in the talent show? I thought I heard someone in his class mention it," he was talking to the girl in the next desk, a solemn looking blonde who never said a word and barely changed her facial expression. She didn't even move before Carl made a noise of wonder and said, "What? He's in the love ballad section? I didn't think Jin was a romantic person at all."

J-jin? Was in the talent show!? Singing a... Guh. He swallowed and shook his head.

The bell rang. Thank God. Ragna sighed, putting all thoughts about Jin to the back of his head and reaching into his desk to get his materials out.

Eh?

Now Ragna wasn't a neat freak by any means, but it just made things far easier to keep everything in a notebook, or folder... So having a stray paper in his desk was just weird.

He pulled it out and blanched. It was a flyer for the talent show, but more importantly it had a very familiar handwriting scribbled down the side.

"Nii-san," it read, "I know you best, so I'm sure that you aren't planning to come to the show tonight. This makes me feel very displeased, and you know firsthand how... _unpleasant _I can be when I feel that way," then underneath, "Please come to watch, I can't do it without you~ Yours Truly , Jin."

Ugh.

Jin could spot him in a crowd no problem, so Ragna would never be able to pretend like he had gone to the damn thing if he actually hadn't. Furthermore, Jin was indeed very right about him being a pain in the ass when he wanted to be.

"Shit."

"What's wrong, Ragyna?!" Tao asked him, looking entirely too curious for her own good.

He sighed and crumpled up the paper in his hand, "Looks like I'm gonna go to the talent show after all." Tao cheered, and spent the rest of class talking about the sorts of food that would be there-- but she assured Ragna that it would be nowhere near as good as his.

The second he entered the auditorium, he dreaded the moment that Jin would get on the stage. Tao distracted him pleasingly with meaningless chatter and discussion on the food (she was right, his cooking definitely tasted better).

The P.E. teacher was before Jin, and dedicated his song to the school nurse, Ms. Litchi. Unfortunately there had been an injury before the performance so she hadn't even been present for his epic love confession.

"And now, what you ladies have been waiting for!" The MC declared, and introduced their vice president, Jin Kisaragi.

Jin scanned the crowd the moment he walked on stage, and smiled once he spotted Ragna. At once, he started his spiel, "This is dedicated to someone very special to me... You know who you are." Jin locked his eyes with his brother and winked, sending several of the girls around Ragna into a frenzy as they disputed which one of them Jin could possibly fancy.

_You girls can have him_, he thought with a scowl, and the music started up. Some people cheered once they recognized the tune. Ragna didn't, at least not until Jin started to sing.

"_I... was born tooo love you~ with every single beat.. of my heart!_"

Girls screamed and possibly fainted, and Ragna was pretty sure that he could feel the bile climbing his throat. If anything, he could say that Jin sung rather well. In fact, he was actually surprised that he didn't know.

Jin kept making bedrooms eyes in his direction whenever he sang something particularly.. awkward. It was giving him the creeps. At about two minutes in, Ragna was finished. Jin couldn't hold anything against him, right? He did come to watch after all, he just didn't stay the whole time. Jin usually didn't get to last this long when spouting uncomfortable nonsense in his direction.

"_I wanna love yoou... I love every little thing about you._" Yeah. He was gone, Ragna decided, turning around and starting to walk out of the auditorium. "_I wanna love you, love you, l_-- NII-SAAN!! WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!" Jin was nearly shouting into the microphone. Ragna froze in the crowd, at which Jin seemed to be pleased, saying chidingly, "Nii-san, you can't leave in the middle of the song like that! If you don't listen, then," Ragna looked over his shoulder, and he swore his brother _sparkled_, "it doesn't mean anything at all."

Literally everyone in the crowd turned in his direction, the girls in front of him immediately realized who Jin had been winking to before, and the crowd erupted into a new frenzy about Jin's illicit and forbidden love affair.

Ragna was going to freaking _kill _his brother after this was over.


	3. Suspension of Disbelief

"Oi, Jin! Are you still trying to cook?" Ragna called from the bathroom. He was toweling his hair dry rather vigorously when he heard the clattering of what he assumed to be pots and pans. After not receiving an answer, Ragna sighed and grabbed another towel to wrap around his waist. He continued to dry his hair as he stepped out into the hallway so his brother could hear him, "Jin, I told you that I woul--"

He froze, the words dying in his throat the moment he turned in his head and met his brother's eyes.

Jin was in Ragna's apron, the one that he had gotten for Christmas last year, that had his name right over the chest. His legs were crossed at the ankles, most of his weight on both hands pressed against the counter behind him.

And if Ragna had to guess by the amount of skin that Jin was displaying, he wasn't wearing a thing under it.

"Surprise," Jin said in a low voice. He inclined his head as though beckoning him, and Ragna was in the kitchen before he even realized he was moving.

"What the hell are you doing?" Ragna managed to squeeze out, his voice far more strangled than he'd like to admit. Jin pushed off the counter to begin to walk towards him, and Ragna couldn't help but feel a little claustrophobic as he did. It was obvious what Jin was going for here, and hell, sure, they'd done things before, but that had either been when they were buzzed, or plain out of their minds. None of the times before had shown a hint of pre-meditation, and Ragna had problems enough with his guilt when Jin brushed it off with, "We had too much to drink, Nii-san. It happens." Except for the day after, they never even mentioned the encounters again.

Now here Jin was, obviously trying to seduce the hell out of him as he provocatively swayed his hips and stared at him far too intensely to be anything but completely competent.

"I wanted to do something special," he murmured, now that they were in arm's reach. Ragna didn't have time to respond before Jin closed the gap and wrapped his arms around him. Ragna's eyes instinctively dropped to Jin's back, gliding over his pale white skin, the slopes of his shoulder blades and down his spine. For a moment, he couldn't tear from the way the sleek knot of the apron pressed right against the small of his back, and the ends of the string cascaded down his smooth, firm ass.

Ragna swallowed and forced himself to raise his eyes, "This is something special? What are you, a pervert?" his voice was lower than usual, although he hardly noticed it; he was currently concentrating on not showing any signs of a physical reaction.

Jin didn't even register his comment, only pressed closer, murmuring, "You really smell good, Nii-san," in the most affected voice. Ragna couldn't help but think that certainly answered his question. After a moment, Jin pulled away to look at Ragna in the face, his cheeks were pink, and his eyes wide with want. "Coming out in just a towel," he said, raking his eyes over the muscles of Ragna's chest and stomach in a way that both excited and scared him, "That's dirty, Nii-san," he whispered. Ragna was still paralyzed in that place between wanting to run away and wanting to run with it when Jin curled his arms around his neck and pulled him down, right against his lips.

This kiss was unlike any they had shared before; it wasn't sloppy or sheerly experimental, but a curious kiss that started soft and shifted into deepness, hunger. Ragna put his arms around Jin's waist and pulling their bodies closer until he could feel the heating press of something against his thigh-- whenever he moved his legs, Jin would gasp softly into the kiss, and press back twice as hard. One of Jin's hands sunk into his bleached, still-damp hair, twisting his head to the side as he sought Ragna's tongue. Ragna's fingers crawled up Jin's side, slipping in underneath the apron to rub at his nipples-- Jin moaned "Nii-san," as best he could with his tongue in someone else's mouth and Ragna groaned back against him, his erection swelling. Maybe, he thought, he was the pervert here.

Even so, it was far too hard to be guilty when all he could feel was pleasure and satisfaction.

Jin's other hand slipped down Ragna's spine to curl right above his tailbone, and then, slipping his fingers into the crevice between hot skin and fluffy white cotton, tugged the towel off of Ragna's body.

Jin broke the contact between their lips-- a single string of saliva spanning the gap for a moment-- to pull back and look over Ragna's exposed skin at once. His eyes on Ragna's straining erection, he licked his lips and looked up at his brother's face. Jin was no longer grinning seductively, in fact, Ragna remembered this look from those drunken nights; it meant that Jin was at his limit, was far too impatient to stand anything else.

Jin dug a hand into one of the pockets on the apron as he leaned forward and touched their lips briefly together, pressing a tube of lubricant into Ragna's palm. He pulled away, saying, eyes lowering coyly, "I-- when you were in the bathroom--" Ragna bit his lip, and damned Jin, his tactics, and his self-assuredness but tugged Jin toward the counter anyway.

"Turn around," he said gruffly; Jin did exactly as he was told and leaned over the counter, a little shudder passing through his body from anticipation as Ragna slicked the oil over his erection. Jin looked over his shoulder as Ragna stepped closer, until his chest was right against his naked back and his hand cupped his cheek, bringing his face to that perfect angle. Ragna kissed him hard, pushing inside him in once harsh thrust that made Jin cry out shamelessly.

After a few moments, Jin moved back against him, murmured, "Nii-san," like a plea and his brother obliged-- he thrust into him, again and again, making Jin moan out for more. Jin clutched the edge of the counter furiously as he trembled and, R-Ragna-san slid his hand upwards underneath the apron to tou-... touch, the Vice President's..!!

"M-M-MAKOTO!!" Noel shrieked, slamming the book shut with a red face, "I-I-- how can you read this!" Her eyes dropped from her smug friend's face to the desk, where the cover of the doujinshi-- a provocative picture of Jin eating a popsicle, his apron nearly slipping off of his frame, with the words "Say Ah~!" in a bubbly text across the top-- stared up at her. Her face flushed even more, and she quickly placed her hand over the image.

"That's what you say but you got through more than half of it. You were so close to the end, Noel. It was just getting good!" Makoto told her, her face held an expression of disappointment, but her tail waved mischievously.

Noel frowned at her words, "But you don't have to see the Vice President every day. Now... I won't even be able to look at him in the face!" she covered her mouth, shielding her unrelenting blush. "I'll just end up thinking about... _that_."

Makoto laughed and climbed on top of Noel's desk, pushing the thin book out of the way. "You're not going to tell me this was your first time reading something like that, are you?" Noel was silent, and Makoto started to giggle, reaching outwards to grab her around the shoulders and press her face into her bosom. "Really, Noel?! Awww, you're so cute and pure. How did you make it through our middle school like that?"

Her blush grew, this time from sheer embarrassment as Makoto held her embrace for a solid minute, murmuring to her about the wonder of youth and innocence. When Makoto released her, she looked up at her curiously, finally saying what was on her mind, "I don't know how someone can, draw such things about people they know in real life! I mean... it's an invasion of privacy!"

At that, Makoto blinked, started to chuckle lowly before bursting out in laughter. Noel looked at her indignantly, and she shook her head, waving her hand as if trying to pretend that she wasn't laughing directly at her. Once she calmed down, Makoto grabbed the book from the desk and put it under Noel's nose, poking the artist's name with a smirk. "Maybe you should ask her yourself?"

Noel raised her eyebrow, not daring to look at anything but the name that her finger was pointing to, "Camellia? I don't know anyone named Camellia..."

Makoto rolled her eyes, dropping her book, "Noel! You're so dense. Of course you don't, it's one of those-- those pseudoname things. You know it's a flower, right?" Noel looked confused as she nodded, "And that it's english, right?" When she nodded again without gaining any comprehension of what Makoto was talking about, she sighed heavily, "And the japanese name is..?"

Noel frowned for a moment, "Tsubaki?" Then she froze, looking at Makoto in disbelief, her face flushing again, "Y-you mean!! Tsubaki drew this!? She couldn't have. Isn't the Vice President her childhood friend? That's impossible!"

Makoto gave her one of those looks that suggested Noel was beneath her, "Oho. Tsubaki's apparently not that sweet modest girl we've known. Inside her, lies a beast," she tapped the book as though it was exhibit A.

"Just because the author's name is Camellia doesn't mean it's Tsubaki!" Noel defended valiantly.

"You've seen Tsubaki's drawings before, haven't you? Didn't you think the style was a bit too, familiar?" Noel grew rigid, she had thought she had seen similar drawings in Tsubaki's notebooks, but nothing that-- perverse! That surely had to count for something. "Look," Makoto said to Noel's unwavering belief, and pulled out a piece of paper that she quickly unfolded to reveal a picture of Jin. She held it up next to the book, and Noel was able to immediately see some similarities beyond what she thought she remembered. Makoto continued, "If anything, the stuff in the book looks a bit more polished than her sketches, but who knows how long she's had to work on it."

Noel's mouth was still in an obstinate line when the bell signaling the end of lunchtime rang. "Oh well. You'll see." Makoto said, then heaved another little sigh and hopped off the desk; she reached for Noel's hand and placed the book in it, smiling maliciously, "Your homework tonight is to finish that!"

Before Noel could object or even move, the athletic girl was halfway across the room and waving goodbye to her. Noel took another look at the book, still unable to believe that Tsubaki was the one who drew it, when students started to pour into the classroom. She quickly stuffed the thing into her desk lest someone ask about it. The thought still gnawing at her mind, she decided that she would just get it over with and ask Tsubaki about it after school. Whatever answer she gave, Noel would accept it as the truth. After all, Tsubaki wouldn't lie to her!

Once the final bell of the day had rung, Noel trudged towards the student government room, where Tsubaki usually spent the hour following school to plan events and go over improvements. However, no one was in at the time. Sometimes she spoke to the faculty or others for a few minutes, so Noel decided to wait for her. Now that the "Say Ah~!" was stewing on her mind (it was like she could see straight through her school bag and only see the book), Noel started wonder if Tsubaki was really doing official business in her after hours. The comic club was an after school one...

Noel shook her head, refusing to take a side before she heard what Tsubaki had to say. To take her mind off of it, she reached down and grabbed a stray Sector Seven tabloid. Two pages into it was an apparent article concerning the very same subject she had been trying to get away from.

After a half a page article discussing the success of the self-published work, there was an apparent section on the two who 'starred' in it, that read the following:

_Below, VP Jin Kisaragi comments on his unexpected surge in female fans due to the publishing of "Say Ah~!"_

Carl Clover: Nee-san wants to know if you ever thought you would wind up in a BL doujinshi with your own rival, Ragna the Bloodedge?

Jin Kisaragi: (laughs) Well, I can certainly see the appeal. Two attractive men sharing a mysterious past that neither of them want to talk about? It would start up alot of rumors. It was just a matter of time, I suppose. Women do have a thing for these kinds of relationships, don't they?

CC: Do you know who the mysterious author Camellia is?

JK: Don't you guys have a whole editorial about that already?

CC: Nee-san says that that's confidential.

JK: Very well. Some people have suggested that it's someone very close to me. It's probably friend or fan I guess.

CC: What are your final thoughts and opinion on the subject. Are you offended or maybe even interested in the material?

JK: I have to say I'm flattered more than anything. Someone put so much time and effort into the comic and so many people actually paid for it and read it. I can't be offended at art, no matter how questionable it is.

CC: Thank you very much for your cooperation, Vice President.

JK: No problem. If you do end up finding out who the author is, I want the first reaction interview, alright? (laughs)

Ragna the Bloodedge's first reaction to the quickly widespread BL doujinshi.

CC: Ragna-san, how did you feel when you heard about "Say Ah~!" for the first time? Were you shocked?

Ragna the Bloodedge: What's that, some sort of cooking show on television? What kind of articles are you running nowadays, anyway...

CC: Um. You haven't heard anything about it?

RTB: No?

(CC hands RTB the book, RTB nearly drops it after seeing the cover)

RTB: (flipping through the book) What the hell is this!!

CC: "Say Ah~!" is the current monthly publication of our school's comic club. While the club has previously delved into BL, this is the first time that anyone from the school has been actively featured. Some say it's a great honor, Ragna-san. Do you agree?

RTB: What the hell... Why would I feel honored that someone drew me and... Jin like... Aw, (expletive). (hands book back) I think feel a little queasy.

CC: So I take it you disapprove of it?

RTB: I just don't see what the deal is. I obviously avoid him and beat him up whenever I see him, but whatever. At least it explains all those weird looks I've gotten.

CC: Do you have anything you'd like to tell the author directly?

RTB: Ugh. I mean, thanks, I guess, for. Holding an interest in me. I don't mean to be completely offensive when I say, what the hell were you thinking?! I happen to be a little creeped out by this whole situation, and I don't really appreciate everyone having this image of me screwing Jin in their heads.

CC: Anything else you'd like to add?

RTB: Do you guys sell get-out-of-interview free cards? This is like my fifth one this month. There must be more interesting people out there.

CC: (laughs) You'll have to ask Kokonoe-sensei about that!

Noel checked her watch. Fifteen minutes had already passed. Maybe Tsubaki had decided to call it early for the day? She'd have to ask about it tomorrow, she supposed. Her parents would get worried again if she stayed too long past her normal time. Once she opened the door to the hallway, she thought she heard a few voices. Noel curiously traveled toward them, if only to see if there was something the matter that she could help with when she recognized one of the voices.

"I don't know what you guys are talking about, honestly." It was Tsubaki. Noel ran to the direction of her voice; she was in the student lobby with Carl Clover, his sister Ada and few other journalists that she hadn't noticed before.

"Nee-san says that we've received numerous tips that suggest you are the author. There are also several hints, I mean, there's the similarity between the author's pseudonym and your name," Carl explained to her, but Tsubaki didn't budge a bit.

If anything, she looked a little uncomfortable, but Noel could understand that. She'd personally be very flustered if it was her being accused, "That's great, but I'm telling the truth. I had nothing to do with that book. The Vice President is not only my childhood friend but a member of the student government, my student government. It would be very unprofessional to draw something like that."

"It was Jin himself that said the author was someone close to him, and who else is close to him besides you?" one of the girls argued against her.

Tsubaki sighed before, seeing Noel in the doorway, she started to walk away, "You all are keeping me from my work."

Before she made it out of the room, Carl spoke again, "The most conclusive, of course, is your drawing style. Some would say its easy to mimic a drawing style, but since your art is more, self-taught, I don't think it's the case of someone simply copying your style." Tsubaki swirled around, and Ada held up a comparison of two pictures before her, one from the comic, and one picture that Tsubaki had drawn for an event.

"I wasn't self-taught," Tsubaki said, her eyes narrowing once she thought about it. She snatched the paper right out of Ada's hand, staring. They were right. It did look very similar to hers, the only difference was subtle things, things you wouldn't ordinarily notice, that made the doujinshi look more official than anything she drew. After all, Tsubaki had learned how to draw when she was in middle school. While she had been a quick study, the difference between her work and the work of this unknown author was, quite clearly to her, just several more years of practice.

Tsubaki wordlessly stomped out of the room, in a clear show of guilt and surrender as far as the Sector Seven reporters were concerned. Noel scampered after her, and followed her into the student government room, where Tsubaki gently excused herself with a smile and went inside of her office.

Tsubaki had, of course, learned how to draw from her then newly befriended neighbor, Jin Kisaragi.

The door was closed, but Noel was pretty sure that the whole school could hear her furious shout of, "_NII-SAMAAAAAAA!!_"


End file.
